


In a Moonlit Glade

by Dream_Trance



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Fae Danny Phantom, Fae Magic, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Porn With Plot, Tags to be added, future mute character, kind of a Soulmate AU, the plot kind of snuck up on me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-07 04:38:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18613306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dream_Trance/pseuds/Dream_Trance
Summary: When Danny believes in them at all, he knows the Fae are conniving, dangerous immortal creatures who treat humans like expendable playthings, but it's not until he's face-to-face with one that he understands what his parents meant when they warned him not to be fooled by their beauty. He'll need all his wits to escape the trap closing around him, but it's hard to remember he needs to run and never look back when staying is so much more tempting.





	In a Moonlit Glade

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I'm not actually all that familiar with Fae legends, I just know some of the basics. Be polite, don't eat the food from their realm, and whatever you do, do NOT give them your name

 

 _"Come away, O human child!_  
_To the waters and the wild_  
_With a faery hand in hand,_  
_For the world's more full of weeping_  
_Than you can understand."_

\- William Butler Yeats, "The Stolen Child"

* * *

 

" _Shit_."

The word burst from Danny's lips as his foot caught on… _something_. His sneaker protected his skin from the sharp edges of whatever it was, but Danny's bare arms received a number of scratches as he tried to catch his balance on the flimsy support of the bush in front of him. He fell part way through the foliage before it halted his fall. Groaning and hissing in pain, Danny carefully eased his way out and moved— _carefully_ —back a few steps.

If he could just _see_ he wouldn't be tripping over things. There had been a full moon when he, Sam, and Tucker had walked into the forest—there would have been little point to Dash's dare if there hadn't been—but somehow the tree canopy had become so dense as to let little if any moonlight filter through the forest. What had been a fun, easy trek through their town's 'haunted' forest had transformed into what could have been the opening sequence of a horror movie. The only reason Danny had yet to panic was because he could still hear the peepers, crickets, and frogs so familiar to this part of the forest. They meant he was by the river, and if he could just find it, he could find his way out again. The only thing he couldn't hear over the racket was his friends.

Danny cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted for what had to be the tenth time in as many minutes, "Sam! _Tucker_!"

The only response he received was the hoot of a nearby owl.

Danny dropped his arms back down to his sides and spat another curse. He had given up using the fake names they had jokingly given each other. He couldn't even remember what his own had been. It had been something stupid, it had made Tucker roar with laughter, but for the life of him, Danny couldn't remember it.

Danny looked up, but still he could only see the barest outline of the branches closest to him. Sam was the only one smart enough to have brought a compass, but if Danny had been able to see the stars, he might have been able to find his way out of the forest.

Probably.

He did _not_ want to spend the night out there. Not only would his parents ground him for life, he would also have to face Dash's taunts about getting lost.

Or maybe Dash would get that wild look in his eyes again and ask Danny if he had seen anything.

Dash never mentioned what it was _he_ had seen, but the frightened way he, the school's all-star quarterback, talked about the forest made everyone gossip over the topic like excited cryptid hunters. Danny and his friends just happened to be the latest victims to have fallen for his (probably fake) dramatics.

Danny knew what his parents would say was the cause. Anywhere from ghosts, to Fae, to vampires. Danny needed to get home before his curfew passed or Jack and Maddie would rip through the forest like a personal army, which meant he needed to get moving. Danny turned slowly in place, hands held out blindly, searching for any sign of a path, even something as simple as a deer's earlier passing. He had yet to find anything. Everywhere he looked he saw nothing but shadowy shapes that resembled tree trunks. Everywhere he stepped or touched he was scratched by bushes and unseen foliage. It was like the forest had him surrounded.

He had lost the hiking trail ages ago, and his flashlight soon after that. He couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything over the _damn wildlife_.

 _Face it, Fenton,_ he thought to himself, _you're just gonna have to curl up on the ground with all the worms, spiders, beetles—wait…is that...?_

Danny stepped cautiously toward the faint moonlight shining off the round edges of a birch tree almost as far away as his house was tall. Twigs snapped beneath his next step. Danny held one hand in front of his face as he began walking faster, catching any stray branch low enough to make a go at attacking his face. His other hand hung low for the same reason, not wanting any unseen logs to show up out of nowhere and knock the air from his lungs. _Again._

As he neared the light, he realized it really was a moonlit glade, and he picked up his pace, made braver by the lack of logs, boulders, or bushes to trip him up. He must have stumbled on an animal track after all. There almost seemed to be a dividing line between the moonlight in the glade and the shadows cast by the trees, but Danny charged over the visible threshold without a second thought.

He ran several feet into the glade before he stopped and threw back his head, bathing his face in the moonlight. He released a happy sigh of relief through his mouth as he spread his arms out. Finally. Finally he was free of the forest, at least for the moment. He opened his eyes and beamed at the moon directly overhead but then the stars drew his attention, and his jaw dropped, his breath leaving him in a rush.

The stars didn't just sprinkle the night sky anymore, they _blanketed_ it. There were so many stars he could barely _see_ the sky. He couldn't even pick out any constellations there were so many. And they were _bright_. How far had he journeyed into the forest? How far away from Amity Park must he be for there to be so little light pollution?

They were going to need a _rescue team_ to find him...

Danny gaped in wonder at the stars. He stepped farther into the glade, spinning in slow circles until his foot landed with a splash. Startled, Danny looked down. A pond the size of an entire football field stretched before him, the water perfectly smooth, decorated by the occasional lily pad in bloom. The stars and the moon sparkled over the water's surface, the vibrant hues of the milky way reflected in dazzling detail, as perfect as any mirror. The beauty of it stole Danny's voice so that the only noise his throat produced was the sound of air rushing out as if Danny had been punched in the gut by another log.

Amid the chirping crickets, smuggled inside a loon's call, a voice whispered in his ear, "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Danny sucked the air back into his lungs and spun around. There was no one behind him. On the opposite side of the glade, the birch trees swayed gently in the breeze, their leaves rustling.

"Hello?" Danny called.

Only the wildlife answered.

Danny rubbed the rounded edge of his right ear. He had thought he felt someone's breath brush across the skin, but it must have been the wind.

Just to be safe, though, Danny said cautiously as he knelt beside the water, "I'm just gonna...if you don't mind..."

He waited to see if anyone would object, but of course no one did. Feeling foolish, he dipped his hands beneath the water, ripples dancing across the water's surface, disturbing the mirror image. He cupped his hands together and lifted the water out of the pond and splashed it over his face. He brought his hands down the sides and to the back of his neck, wiping away as much sweat as he could. He hadn't felt the same breeze inside the forest as he did now, and he felt sticky and hot from the frustrating trek.

He repeated the process twice more, feeling more and more refreshed. After the fourth splash over his face, he wiped his eyes clear of water and opened them to see a reflection dancing along the ripples beside his own.

"Shit!" He twisted and fell back on his side, away from whoever cast the reflection, but, again, no one was there. He laughed nervously as he lifted himself onto his elbow. "Okay, okay, that's enough." He pushed himself onto his feet and began backing away toward the nearest tree line. "It's been lovely, whoever you are, but, uh, I think, I'm just, uh, gonna go now. Bye!"

Danny turned and made a dash for the trees. Nothing tried to stop him. No voice rose in protest. The night creatures continued their usual chatter as Danny fled the glade like something was chasing him. He passed beneath the trees—

—and reentered the glade from the opposite direction.

Danny skidded to a halt and stared in horror at the pond, the stars, the birch trees. "Oh no..." he breathed. "No, no, _no_."

He spun around and ran through the trees only to enter the glade again from another direction. " _Fuck_!"

He tried again, but got the same result. He tried again. Again. Again. He knew the moment it had first happened that he was...that he was being _held_ there by something that could warp space, but he couldn't believe it was actually happening. They weren't supposed to be real. His parents couldn't have been right all these years.

He was in so much danger he could barely wrap his head around it. A scream built up in his chest, growing stronger each time he was redirected into the glade until he returned to the glade directly in front of the pond. He ran through the water, unable to immediately stop his momentum. His feet dragged through the water, and the unexpected resistance stole his balance. He tripped forward, letting out his scream as a far more undignified yelp than he'd intended, and then he was submerged beneath a foot of water.

It was cooler than expected. Danny jerked himself out of the water and sat on his knees, shaking his head so that his hair sent water droplets flying in all directions. Only after he wiped his eyes did he hear the peals of laughter filling the glade. The crickets, peepers, and other creatures lowered their chatter, as if they too listened in a sort of reverent silence to the beautiful sound.

Danny shuddered. He twisted at the hip and looked over his shoulder. Another teenager stood at the edge of the pond, glowing faintly in the moonlight. At the sight of him, Danny lost all the breath in his lungs all over again. The other boy wasn't wearing any clothes except what might have been considered a loincloth. Danny didn't think it necessarily counted as clothing, given that it was made out of _leaves_ , but at least it hid the one area Danny felt his gaze dropping to the moment he realized the other boy was naked.

Worse, Danny could see his thigh muscles flex and shift as he stepped into the water.

Danny ripped his eyes away and looked into a glowing pair of the most intense green eyes he had ever seen. Danny flushed. He jumped to his feet and spun to face the—beautiful, enchanting, _dangerous_ —intruder, taking several quick steps farther into the pond. "Whoa, hey," he said, "whatever you're thinking—" _Manners_ , he chided himself, fear leaping to his throat. "—I mean, it's nice to meet you and all, but I need to get home now, so, I..." his voice trailed off as his eyes wandered down the boy's bare chest.

White glowing stripes stood out against the boy's darkly tanned skin, their swirling, intricate patterns fascinating to follow, especially when one such stripe lay over defined abs, the tip curled around the boy's naval. Danny swallowed. The teenager couldn't have been much older than Danny himself, certainly if he was taller it was only by an inch or two, but his body was lean with muscles Danny could only ever dream of having. Or touching.

Danny forcefully shook his head. That was falling right into this creature, this Fae's hands. When he looked back at the Fae, the two of them were so close they could have reached out their arms and touched.

Danny took a frantic step back. "I'll just be heading home now," he said as he took another step back. Unfortunately, he was stepping farther into the pond and farther away from the woods. Already the water had risen to his knees.

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?" the Fae asked, one eyebrow lifting as his lips twisted into a smirk. His voice touched each word like a song, flowing from one syllable to the next in an unbroken cadence. There was a slight echo, as if his voice ricocheted off the very air, and Danny felt himself shiver.

"Um..." Shoot, what was that fake name? Danny's thoughts scrambled after it, but it was like chasing a butterfly. A very fast butterfly. The Fae would know a lie immediately and might become offended. At best he needed a nickname, which was why he, Sam, and Tucker had given each other fake code names, only he couldn't _remember_ it.

Had this Fae chased it away? Could he do that?

The Fae stepped closer, his bare legs disturbing the water and producing a soft gurgling ripple amid the frogs' croaking. He reached for Danny's hand, and at the slightest brush of skin-on-skin, Danny flinched and scrambled backward. His legs splashed through the water with a lot less grace.

"F-Fenton," he stuttered. "You can, uh, you can call me Fenton?" It came out more as a question at the end, unsure as he was about using his surname and that phrase. He hadn't taken his parents seriously when they had warned him about the Fae and instructed him on how to behave, but he was sure using his surname was safer than giving his actual name or even his nickname. 'Danny' could too easily be derived from 'Daniel.' His last name had to be safer.

The Fae's lips stretched farther, parting to allow a flash of white teeth. " _Fenton_ ," he said, rolling the name off his tongue as if he were savoring it. Danny sucked in a breath as _pressure_ squeezed around his thoughts, his heart, trying to bend them to another's will. Bad, bad, bad. Surnames were _not_ safe. "You may call me Phantom. It's nice to finally meet you."

Danny's throat produced a strained whimper. "Likewise," he gasped.

"If you return to dry land," Phantom said, his strange voice purring between them, "I can dry you off."

Danny swallowed. "No thanks," he said, "I feel safer over here."

"Do you?" Amused, Phantom tilted his head to the side and looked down at Fenton's feet. "The inhabitant of this pond may disagree."

"What—" Scales brushed against Danny's calf, and he stiffened. _It's just a fish,_ he told himself, but the cold body continued to graze his leg as the 'fish' swam forward, emphasizing a long sinuous body. "W-what inhabitant?"

Phantom shrugged his shoulders, though the gesture somehow looked odd. "Your kind has yet to name it and my kind has never bothered. It won't harm you. So long as I am here too." Phantom's grin turned wicked and then he took several deliberate steps back toward the shore.

 _Oh, you asshole,_ Danny thought. He followed Phantom out of the pond, warily keeping at least three feet of space between them. Phantom's intense eyes remained fixated on Danny's face the entire time, summoning a blush to his cheeks Danny could have done without. He appeared to be searching for something, waiting for Danny to show him whatever it was he was after, but Danny had no clue what that could be. He wasn't even sure if Phantom finding it would be safer for him or not.

For his part, Danny watched the Fae in turn, too afraid to take his eyes off him lest Phantom get the drop on him, but watching him wasn't a hardship. He was beautiful. Amazing… Danny's gaze wandered to his hair, such a bright white it rivaled the moon, but it was as messy and tousled as Danny's, cut short in the back but allowed to grow atop his head. His ears were in the right position, but they were shaped a little like a deer's and twitched and swiveled to catch the sounds around them. Most disturbing of all was how similar Phantom's features appeared to his own. The same nose, the same shape of his jawline...it was probably an illusion, but it was an odd, unsettling one.

They reached the dry land of the glade, but Phantom led Danny farther from the pond, urging him forward with a sharp jerk of his chin and a meaningful glance at the pond. Only once the grass reached above Danny's sneakers did Phantom stop. Danny stopped as well and frowned down at the hand Phantom held out between them.

Phantom explained, "Give me your hand and I'll dry you off."

Danny shook his head. He didn't know how Phantom intended to dry him off, but he was sure he shouldn't trust him. "No, thank you, I'm fine."

" _Fenton_ ," Phantom warned, and Danny sucked in another breath as the same pressure as before descended on him and _squeezed_ , "don't be afraid of me."

It wasn't a command Danny felt compelled to obey since Phantom only spoke a part of his name, but it was more compelling than if Phantom hadn't used his name at all. He could feel that pressure pushing against his thoughts, urging him to feel safe in Phantom's company. Danny didn't, though, and he was determined he never would. Phantom didn't need to know that. The longer he believed Danny was compliant, the safer he would be.

Probably.

Danny placed his hand over Phantom's, and the Fae's fingers closed around it like a vice. His skin felt hotter than a human's, surprising Danny who had expected such monsters to feel as cold as their hearts. The glow around Phantom's hand spread over Danny's and from there to the rest of Danny's body, and then water began to roll off Danny's skin in little droplets. He looked down and watched the moisture in his shirt coalesce into little beads of water before they too fell away. Water ran down his cheeks and forehead, pulled from his hair. One droplet dripped down his nose. Before long, the grass at his feet was soaked, the heavy weight of his t-shirt and jeans no longer dragged him down, and the breeze no longer chilled his skin.

"Better?" Phantom asked.

Danny realized his mouth was hanging open and quickly shut it. "Uh, yeah. Thanks, I—" Phantom was still holding his left hand. He tried to tug his hand free, but Phantom's grip tightened, refusing to release it. "Um...I'd like my hand back now?"

"No." Phantom twisted Danny's hand until his palm was facing up. One of Phantom's hands held Danny's secure at the wrist while the fingers of his other hand began tracing the lines of Danny's palm with a feather light touch that made Danny shiver. "I believe it is mine now."

Danny stared at him, and as he did, his breath came a little faster. He curled his fingers into a fist, and Phantom, making a coo of dissatisfaction, turned Danny's fist around so he could brush his thumb across Danny's knuckles instead.

 _"Give me your hand,"_ Phantom had said. _"Give me your hand and I'll dry you off."_

It had been a _bargain_.

Danny had traded his left hand for a magical _blow dry_.

 _Holy fucking shit,_ he thought, frantic. Phantom could rip his fucking hand off and keep it as a trophy. He could break his fingers, scratch his name into the skin like a brand. He could...he could...kiss it?

Warmth flushed through Danny as Phantom's heated lips lingered on his skin. He could feel the wet crease between his lips, teasingly intimate on his knuckle. Phantom finally lifted his head and his eyes caught Danny's, the sparkle in his green irises full of mischief.

"You may have it back for now," he said. His thumb brushed over where he had kissed before he released Danny's hand entirely. "I prefer it attached and unharmed."

Danny jerked his hand back and cradled it protectively against his chest, his cheeks flushed. Either Phantom could read his thoughts or Danny's expression had just been that easy to read. Neither boded well for him, and yet his mind kept circling around the sensation of Phantom's kiss. No one had ever kissed his hand before, least of all another boy who's beauty put Paulina's to shame. He hadn't expected the way it made his stomach flutter.

 _He's just trying to keep you off balance,_ he told himself. _He just bargained for your_ hand _. Who_ does _that?_

The Fae, apparently.

Danny shuddered, the fingers of his right hand tightening around his left. "I'm going home."

Phantom nodded and gestured at the trees. "If you wish." That damn amused smile still lingered on his lips.

Danny narrowed his eyes. "That didn't work the last time."

Phantom laughed, the same beautiful sound as before. "It won't work the next time, either."

Of course not. For all he knew, Phantom was the one who had trapped him. "What do you want?" Danny demanded.

Phantom stepped closer, his green eyes suddenly alight. The wind blew gently over the two of them, tousling Phantom's pure white hair so that it danced in front of his eyes. "Answers only you can give me."

Danny eyed him, wary. "Really? That's it? That's all you're after?"

"Yes. At least for now."

Danny didn't believe that for a second. "Okay..." he said slowly, hesitantly, "ask away."

Phantom nodded. He stepped around Danny and began to circle him. Danny turned with him, afraid to lose sight of such a dangerous creature. There was more to this meeting than just a simple Q&A, Danny would bet his prized model rocket on it. He and his friends had been lured into a Fae forest, separated from each other, and only once Danny had given up hope of escaping had he been allowed to see Phantom's glade shining in the dark. Phantom wanted Danny to feel lost so that Phantom's suggestions would be the only viable ones.

The frustrating part...they probably would be. The only weapon Danny had at his disposal on this battlefield was his own mind, and, unfortunately, humans rarely won no matter how cunning they thought they were.

"Tell me, Fenton," Phantom began, and Danny winced as that pressure squeezed his mind again, "why have you come here?"

"I got lost."

"Lost?" Phantom questioned, still circling him. " _Are_ you lost? I heard you and two others joking about finding my folk, treating me and mine as mere tales. Well. You have found me. Do I live up to your expectations, Fenton?"

Danny winced again. Phantom really liked throwing his last name around. Aloud, he said, "Unfortunately, I didn't believe in you. I had no expectations."

Phantom laughed, and once it ended, the night creatures sang all the louder as if in applause. "That was obvious! Now that you know I exist, are you disappointed?"

"No." Danny breathed out shakily. He had grown up on stories about the Fae, how beautiful and dangerous they were. Phantom was definitely that and more. Danny couldn't take his eyes off him. "I'm terrified."

"Then, from what I hear, you are smarter than most of your kindred." Phantom smiled approvingly at him, but if he had meant it as a compliment, Danny didn't feel flattered by the words. The smile, however, made his heart pound. "You are the first human I've met. Well...aside from the pets at court, but they've been broken. Tamed."

Danny swallowed. All the stories about family members after the Fae had finished with them...broken. Tamed…Danny was going to be sick.

"Have you lost anyone to us?" Phantom asked. "You seem displeased."

If Phantom was hoping for a fight, he wasn't going to trick Danny into giving him one. The best thing he could do was keep his emotions under control. To that end, Danny took a shaky breath. "No one that I knew personally."

"And yet, you are upset."

There was no point denying it. Danny nodded.

"Interesting..." Phantom abruptly stopped circling Danny and stepped closer. Startled, Danny stepped back. Phantom laughed lightly. "You needn't fear me, Fenton. I have no desire to break you like the others."

"You just want answers."

"Yes."

Danny shifted on his feet, moving his weight from the back of his heels to the balls of his feet. He needed to get out of there. "Why me?" Phantom tilted his head in silent question, and Danny added, "Why me and not Sa—one of the others who were with me?"

Phantom hummed, his green eyes tracing over Danny's face. "I am hoping to figure that out myself."

That...didn't explain anything.

"Do humans get cold?" Phantom suddenly asked.

Danny started, once again jerking his eyes away from Phantom's collarbone. "What?"

"You were shivering earlier," Phantom explained, nodding toward the pond. "Do you get cold?"

Danny had been shivering, but not because he had been wet and cold. It was the height of summer, and the night air had been more pleasantly chill than cold. He wasn't about to tell Phantom he had been trembling out of fear, though. "Of course we get cold, don't you?"

"Yes. Is that why you wear so many garments?"

Confused, Danny glanced down at his white t-shirt and pants. "Uh, it's one reason. They're also for, like, protection, privacy—"

Fingers pinched a portion of his shirt, and Danny yelped and tried to jerk back only for the shirt to pull tight and hold him in place. He didn't dare slap Phantom's hand away so he stood there, his jaw clenched around his discomfort as Phantom studied his shirt.

"Strange..." he murmured. "It doesn't look very comfortable."

"Uhhhh, I'd be a lot less comfortable without them."

Phantom's green eyes twinkled with amusement. "Shy, Fenton?"

Danny didn't answer in words, but his cheeks flushed. He was talking to a Fae who wore nothing more than _leaves_. Of course he was shy, if only by comparison.

Phantom released Danny's shirt but didn't move away. With only a foot or two of space between them, Danny shifted uneasily on his feet and tried not to let his blush spread farther. He didn't want the Fae to know exactly how much his presence and lack of clothing were getting to him.

"They make it difficult to see your form," Phantom said, his eyes roving over Danny's body. "But I suppose that is the point?"

Danny nodded jerkily. "Kind of."

"And on your feet?" Phantom looked down, his white hair shading his brilliant eyes.

"Protection."

"But not on your head?"

There were white stripes on Phantom's face too. Two cutting across his cheeks toward his eyes. They glowed as brightly as his hair beneath the moon, vibrant, eye-catching against his tan skin. "Sometimes..." Danny mumbled.

Phantom nodded. "Perhaps you will remove the others later as well. There is no need to protect yourself from me, Fenton."

Danny forced himself to smile. "If you wanted me dead, you would already have killed me?"

"Yes, but mortals have assured me there are worse things than death. Is death what you fear, Fenton?"

"Uh…no?"

Phantom tilted his head to the side, his green eyes holding Danny's. "All mortals fear death. You are slaves to it. If there are worse things, what are they?"

Danny shrugged helplessly and shifted on his feet, discomforted. "I don't know. Change? Pain? Loss of control? Everyone is different."

"Not so different, according to my father." Phantom paused a moment, and when he spoke again, his words rolled into the same pattern as before, but faster. "Do you have a father, Fenton?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"A mother?"

"Yes?"

"Do they know where you are?"

That sounded like something a kidnapper would say. Although, given Danny's surroundings...that may have already happened. Time passed differently in the Fae and real world. A few minutes here could be anywhere from a year to a second in reality.

He swallowed. His parents were going to kill him. If he ever saw them again. "No, but it won't take them long to find me."

"Why is that?"

Danny allowed some of his anger to heat his words. "Because they study and fight supernatural creatures like you all the time."

Phantom's lips curled into an amused smile. "Have they met one of my kind before?"

"...No."

Phantom's lips pulled back farther, allowing his white teeth to show. Danny hadn't noticed before, but there was a slight point on his canines. "Then I won't worry."

"You should," Danny muttered under his breath.

Phantom's deer-like ears swiveled to catch the sound, but he didn't respond to the warning. Instead, he reached out and grazed his fingers across Danny's left cheek. His skin was hot against Danny's own, and his touch caused Danny's nerves tingle. The muscles in Danny's jaw clenched as he forced himself not to flinch or otherwise respond to the feather-light touch.

"Have you ever met another of my kind?" Phantom asked, his melodic voice soft.

"Just you," Danny replied. He bit his lip, frustrated to hear a slight roughness in his own voice.

"And yet I terrify you." Phantom lifted his eyebrows, his lips still curled in his amused grin. "Tell me, Fenton, what brought you into my forest if you are so afraid of me and mine?"

Embarrassed, it took a second for Danny to admit, "I was dared."

And he was probably going to die—or 'worse'—because of it.

Phantom's fingers paused where they had begun to stroke below Danny's eye. A loon crooned from the forest, and for a moment, the forest life chattered without interruption. "This one who dared you," Phantom began again, "is he taller and broader than you? With hair as yellow as the sun?"

"I...yes?" Danny ran his hands down his pants. He had never heard Dash's hair described that way, but maybe Fae didn't have the word for 'blond.' "Do you know him?"

"My father captured him a season ago and presented him to me as a...gift." Phantom breathed out a sigh, and Danny's own breath caught as he felt the air brush over his face. Phantom had gotten closer. Much closer. When had he moved? "He had given his name to my father and was considered of little risk. He was called Dash, though I suspect that was a nickname. Was he the one? I had someone I trusted release him soon after he was presented." Phantom hesitated a moment and then added, "There had been something odd about the way he stared at me. I didn't like it."

"Probably because you look like me," Danny blurted before he could stop himself. His thoughts were spinning in a different direction, to Dash and the look on his face when he had dared Danny to enter the forest Dash had begun to obsess over and avoid himself.

"Perhaps, but...I have sometimes seen other Fae look at me that way. I've been told it means they wish to have sex with me." A corner of Phantom's lips twitched, an echo of his earlier amusement. "You have had the same look a number of times."

Jarred form his memories, Danny's face flushed beneath Phantom's fingers. He spluttered, "I don't want—I was only—I wouldn't actually—you're only wearing _leaves_." His voice cracked at the end, something it hadn't done since he was fifteen. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "W-why haven't you sent me away too, then?" he chocked.

"Because I didn't want sex from him. I might with you."

That _definitely_ wasn't something Danny needed to hear.

Phantom stared at Danny's face, apparently fascinated as his face darkened farther. He brushed his fingers across the bridge of Danny's nose and down his cheek. "This is normal? Changing colors? I haven't seen a human turn this red before, not even Dash, and he blushed a lot."

"Yes," Danny chocked out, "it's normal. I thought I was the first human you met?"

"You are. I never spoke to Dash, only endured his company until my father's interest waned. Dash seemed happy to leave despite not getting what he wanted from me."

Far from insulted, Phantom sounded amused. How he could sound so blase about sex Danny didn't understand. Even after having done it before, Danny couldn't bring himself to speak so casually about it. It was...personal. Maybe to Fae it was purely physical, though.

"I wonder why he sent you here," Phantom mused aloud.

Danny clenched his jaw. He could guess. The expression on Dash's face, the look he hadn't been able to place before, it had been haunted. The look in his eyes hadn't made sense before because it had been directed at Danny himself, not the forest, but now he understood. Dash had wanted to get rid of Danny because he reminded him of Phantom. He had sent Danny into the forest like a sacrificial lamb on purpose.

The _ass_.

"Whatever his intentions," Phantom continued, "you are here now. Perhaps if you or I ever see him again, he would like to know his debt is paid."

Danny ground his teeth together.

Phantom noticed and allowed his smile to grow again. "I take it, he never mentioned me?"

"No."

"And so you and the others came here, unprepared and incautious, believing my folk and I a mere myth."

Phantom's fingers were still on Danny's face, he couldn't nod, but he didn't want to give a verbal confirmation either. He thinned his lips and stared into Phantom's eyes. The Fae knew he was right.

"Don't be too upset, Fenton," Phantom said, his beautiful voice soothing Danny's anger against his will, "if not for his actions, you and I may never have met. That would have been...tragic." Vibrant green eyes held Danny's captive, making it hard for him to swallow. Lowering his voice into a whisper, Phantom added, "Perhaps more than you realize."

Phantom's fingers moved again, sliding along Danny's cheekbone toward his ear. They brushed aside a few black strands along the way and followed the curve of Danny's ear. Danny shivered. He had done something similar to Sam when they had dated, but he hadn't truly thought about it being done to him. He didn't have enough hair for it, and yet there was a tenderness to the action that made his heart seize for half a second.

Phantom's eyes slid from Danny's eyes to his ear, his bright eyes alight with interest as his fingers traced along the shell of Danny's ear. It tickled, but it wasn't until Phantom's index finger slipped behind his ear, just below his earlobe that Danny's head and shoulder moved toward each other, an involuntary smile and huff of air escaping him.

"Sensitive?" Phantom asked. His lips curled into a smile to match Danny's as his eyes returned to stare into a contrasting blue pair. Instead of removing his fingers, Phantom's thumb and index finger pinched Danny's earlobe between them.

"Y-yes," Danny stuttered, his face once again blushing.

"Mine are as well."

Phantom hesitated a moment. His thumb caressed Danny's earlobe while he thought, sending electricity sparking down Danny's spine, his breath catching on an inhale. Phantom's ears perked forward. It was adorable, and Danny squirmed in place.

With his free hand, Phantom caught Danny's wrist—his left one, he noted—and brought Danny's hand to his own ear. It twitched at his touch as if to flick away a fly.

"See?"

"Yeah," Danny replied absently as he stared at the ear.

It was only a little bigger than his own, but it could move on some sort of axis, granting it mobility to pivot and rise independently from Phantom's other ear. Danny moved slowly, waiting for Phantom to pull away. He didn't. Danny touched Phantom's ear at the base and pinched it gently between his own thumb and index finger to keep it from pulling away. Danny followed Phantom's ear to the tip, marveling at how delicate the skin felt, how soft the nearly invisible white hair—fur?—felt beneath his index finger.

He might have marveled over it a while longer, but with a soft sigh, Phantom leaned his head forward, his forehead coming to rest against Danny's. Danny froze, blinking at Phantom's closed eyelids. Curious, he rubbed Phantom's ear between his finger and thumb. A quiet sound escaped Phantom's throat, and Danny smiled.

Distracted, he didn't notice Phantom's arms wrap around his waist until Phantom pulled their bodies flush together. Danny sucked in a breath. Phantom's body was hard against his own, the arms around Danny's waist firm with muscles as he held Danny to him. A blush quickly spread over his face, down to his shoulders.

Danny could handle a too-close hug. He could handle the embarrassment that came from his semi-hard boner pressing against the one holding him.

He couldn't handle these things while the achingly beautiful boy holding him was all but _naked_.

Even through his shirt, Danny could feel the heat radiate from Phantom's skin to caress his own. It was achingly intimate, tempting, but the heat against his crotch dwarfed any other thought. Danny half-raised his free arm, wanting to touch in turn but afraid to do so. His fingers grazed Phantom's bare skin, and another quiet sound escaped Phantom. Approval. Encouragement.

Danny slid his arm around Phantom's lower back and rested his hand on his hip bone. A shiver of delight ran over Danny's skin, along with an unhealthy dose of desire. Anticipation.

 _Stop that,_ he scolded himself. He didn't remove his arm.

A sliver of green peeked through Phantom's eyelids, a little blurry in Danny's sight due to their proximity. "I still have questions."

Danny tried to swallow the saliva collecting in his mouth, but his throat had tightened, and it took him a second attempt to clear it. "Alright," he said, his own thick voice a whisper.

Phantom's eyes pinched at the corners, hinting at a smile Danny couldn't see. "They're personal questions."

That was fine, so long as they stayed like this. "Okay..."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

Phantom's half-masted eyes blinked, confused, but he didn't ask. "Have you ever done this before?"

"What is this?"

Phantom hummed. "You tell me."

Danny swallowed again. It was easier that time for all that the fire in his groin blazed anew. "Once."

"I would be your first Fae."

He would be Danny's first of many things if he would just _stop talking_.

Phantom hesitated again and then said, as causal as a slap to the face, "You would be my first ever."

...Oh.

"Oh," Danny breathed aloud.

"Disappointed, Fenton?"

"No! I just...you're so..." Danny scrambled for the words, but his mind felt jumbled. Phantom's thigh was touching Danny's hard-on, so teasingly near it was taking most of Danny's concentration not to rut his hips forward. Phantom speaking his last name didn't help matters. "S-s-s-"

"Seductive?" Phantom suggested. "Sexy? Superior in every way to any mortal creature you may have once fancied?"

Was he laughing at him? "You're definitely not shy, I'll give you that," Danny grumbled.

The ear he still held between his finger and thumb twitched as if to catch the sound. "I'm beautiful," Phantom said, not an ounce of modesty in his voice. "You have yet to take your eyes off me, and I cannot tell if that is because you fear me or because you have forgotten the stars above us." His eyes crinkled at the edges, and though Danny couldn't see it, he heard the smirk in his voice as Phantom asked, "Would you rather look at the stars, Fenton?"

Just remembering the blanket of stars above them made Danny want to look up again, but he couldn't. Wouldn't. "You're more dangerous than they are," he said.

Phantom laughed softly, and this time Danny heard the beautiful sound closer to his ears, felt Phantom's chest vibrate against his own, breathed in the puffs of air breezing across his lips. The night creatures quieted to listen, but Danny's reaction was more extreme. His knees buckled, sapped of their strength. Phantom's grip tightened around Danny's waist, holding him steady until Danny found his feet again.

"They are far more dangerous than I could ever be," Phantom said, a chuckle still in his voice. He didn't mention Danny's swoon, but he was careful not to laugh again.

His thigh was no longer touching Danny's hard-on. It was pressed against it. Danny could feel the muscle flex as Phantom shifted his weight forward.

Danny panted for breath, his limbs trembling with need. "They...are farther away."

"True." Phantom lifted his arm across Danny's back and cupped his hand around the back of his neck. "And they can't give you what you need." He angled his head down, allowing his nose to brush against Danny's. "Do you want to kiss me, Fenton?" he asked, his voice deeper. Husky.

Danny trembled. He tried to hold back the emotion, but it burst out in a single word. " _Yes_."

"Can I kiss you?"

" _Please_."

"What is your name?"

"Dan—"

Danny jerked his head back, his eyes wide.

"'Dan'," Phantom echoed. Danny could see his smile now. It was smug. "Is your name ' _Danny_ ', Fenton?"

" _Fuck_." Danny tried to pull away, but the arm who's strength had been so hot before now held him trapped against the Fae's body. "That's not—I didn't say—how did you—"

It wasn't his name, it was his nickname, but any minute now, Phantom would use it to find his real name, and then he would be nothing more than a puppet for this creature to play with, forced to obey his every command.

Fuck.

 _Fuck_!

"Danny," Phantom said again, and Danny shivered in his grasp, the hairs on his arms and neck standing on end. "Danny Fenton..." Phantom let the words hang in the air a moment and then he tipped his head back and laughed, delight and amazement weaving throughout the sound, making it ring higher and sweeter than any before.

Frightened as he was, the sound seized Danny's heart, the breath in his lungs. He fell against Phantom again, and the Fae leaned back, lifting Danny off his feet. He spun Danny around in circles, still laughing in Danny's ear. Danny could only cling to him and squawk a weak protest, too breathless to be upset. Phantom's chest expanded and contracted against Danny's as the Fae gasped for breath, his arms tight around him.

It felt _wonderful_.

Phantom set him down, but before Danny could find his balance or shake off the dizziness, Phantom kissed him. Danny almost jumped back but then the sensation of Phantom's lips on his own sank into him, sparked a fire in his groin. He had only a moment to marvel at how soft Phantom's lips felt, to melt into his embrace and move his own arms up Phantom's body, before the Fae released him and danced from his grasp.

Danny fell forward onto his knees, gasping. Phantom released another giddy laugh, and Danny's fingers clenched around the tall grass as he shivered.

"It _is_ you!" Phantom said, fast, like the words were bursting free. "I've found you! I've found you, and you're _mine_!"

Danny shook his head. He wasn't. He _wasn't_.

Phantom dropped to his knees in front of Danny with a slight thump and the crunch of flattened grass. He curled his finger beneath Danny's chin and lifted it until their eyes met. The wind stirred the trees, gusting across the glade so that his and Phantom's hair brushed across their faces. Another loon crooned in the distance.

"Danny Fenton," Phantom said, breathing the name as he stared in wonder at Danny. "Fate must truly favor me. I would have searched centuries beyond counting to find you, but it is you who has come to me." Phantom smiled, a flash of tiny fangs. "We shall be _unstoppable_."

Danny gathered the will to resist and turned his head away, pulling his chin free. He panted for breath, terror and desire tugging at him in equal measure. 'Danny' wasn't his true name, but it was a beloved nickname, one he had used for most of his life, and if it didn't have the pull Phantom intended, hearing that voice speak it still had a devastating effect.

It wasn't his true name...but Phantom seemed to think it was.

Danny watched from the corner of his eyes as Phantom stood again, his movements so lithe and graceful Danny felt his heart pang just watching the supple flex of his muscles. Desire burned inside him, growing stronger as he watched the Fae turn his back and expose the smooth swoop of his spine to Danny, but he pushed it aside as best he could.

If this was a battle, Phantom had won the first round, but it wasn't over yet. Not by a long shot.


End file.
